7.4.09 Rome.

Happy 4th of July! Too bad we didn’t celebrate it here really and I was so sad to miss fireworks. We watched them on youtube and sand America the Beautiful to celebrate that night. We conquered the Vatican today and boy was it a good time. We have had the world’s coolest tour guide for the past two days and she took us to the Vatican and she made it so interesting and fun to be there. We started off in the museum of the Vatican and saw the room with all the tapestries. They are huge wall hangings that they used to use to cover the walls of the Sistine Chapel when the Pope had visitors, but they are too fragile now to move. Wherever you see grey in the fabric, it is real silver thread and the yellow is actual gold thread. Those things must be pretty pricey. There was a cool one that depicted a scene of Christ with his hand out blessing people and if you looked in his eyes while walking past, his whole body and seemed to be moving as you moved and followed you. It was trippy to see that. We made our way down to the Sistine Chapel and we had a lot of time to just sit and take it all in. I sat in total awe of the grandeur and size of the room and realizing the brilliance that Michelangelo had in creating this masterpiece. I sat near the wall of the judgment day and I was so close I could have touched the wall. Right then I got chills thinking that many centuries ago, Michelangelo had painted that very well and probably stood right where I sat. I love that! I sat staring at the immense detail in every body and how he could contour and shade the muscles in the right way so the person was completely proportionate. The scale of the chapel is insane and to be able to scale each painting to fit perfectly is beyond me. I’d like to have a chat with some of these artists from that time and just ask them how they were able to create what they did.

best view of the dome from the entrance of vatican

sistine chapel ceiling...story of the creation

sistine chapel...judgment day wall

We finished with the tour and were allowed free time for the rest of the day. A bunch of us decided to hike the some 300 steps to the top of St. Peter’s dome. Being totally afraid of heights, I was a little nervous about this but let me tell you it was totally worth it. After hiking up the steps that are situated between the outside of the dome and the inside of the dome seen in St. Peter’s cathedral, we arrived first to the top of the dome that overlooks the cathedral. Besides being totally terrified, I could not grasp the utter hugeness of that place. I mean really, it is at least 12 stories tall and that’s not even all the way to the top of the dome. Besides the height, the entire dome and walls are all made up of teeny tiny mosaics. It is beyond me how anyone could create that but they are beautiful. We then kept climbing and came outside to find the most amazing view of all of Roma. You could see all the way out to the Mediterranean and up to Florence. Okay not that far but you get the idea. Seeing Rome from this view made me really appreciate all the architecture of the city. Everything is just so old and completely stunning.

view of st. peter's square from the top of dome

great self timer photo...you'd never know would ya?

Then it was off to the Pantheon. We decided to walk there from the Basilica, which in theory was a good idea and cheap, but in reality, really REALLY far and way confusing to get there. We finally made it and I can say now that I’ve been to the Pantheon. It wasn’t my most favorite building but it was really cool. The oculus is way bigger than your imagination can fathom and made for some sweet pics. How anyone in that time period could figure out how to support the weight of a building with that big of a whole right in the center of the most weight bearing point of the building is beyond me, and again would love to have a talk with them on how they could figure it out. It was an amazing day of Rome although I was glad to get off my feet for the night, but I must say that I love this city, and its people. Ciao!

pantheon...oldest church in rome

the oculus is 18 feet wide

an american flag we found on the 4th of july...love it!